Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online, Naruto and Ragnarok Online. I only borrowed the concept and characters from Sword Art Online, the characters from Naruto and the world of Ragnarok Online.

The action-packed chapter that you have been waiting for...

Chapter 24

"If there is no further question, then let the fight between Sephiroth and Hinata, the first match of the tournament begin!"

Sephiroth immediately runs towards Hinata while Hinata bring her twin dagger out in a reverse grip. Unfortunately for Hinata, before Hinata can even move forward to engage her opponent, Sephiroth bring up his right arm and swing down. Hinata is barely able to block the blade that materialize out of nowhere in the middle of Sephiroth swing.

Hinata caught offguard from the sudden appearance of Sephiroth's 7-foot long katana, is on the defensive. Capitalizing on his katana's longer length, Sephiroth attack Hinata viciously without giving Hinata a chance to recover. Throughout the exchange, the audience was treated to how Hinata handle her daggers. She changes her grip orientation on her daggers like second nature. There is no doubt she is very proficient with her weapon. Due to Hinata's reflex and flexibility, she remains unharmed throughout the onslaught. There are a few close calls but Hinata's acrobatic maneuvers manage to keep her from harm's way.

Sephiroth continues to slash his swords at high speed until he is surprised by an image of a bell chiming on top of Hinata. Her [White Blessing] passive skill, [Auto Blessing] kicks in at that moment. In that moment of hesitation, he felt his sword is being jammed by Hinata's locking maneuver. His sword which is already in an upward motion is being locked by Hinata's double dagger in a criss cross.

Sephiroth was stunned for a moment due to Hinata breaking his momentum but that is all it took for Hinata to close the distance between them. Keeping her daggers in the same position, she drags her dagger across the length of Sephiroth's katana creating sparks along the way. The next thing Sephiroth knows is he was kicked in the face hard and launched several feet from his position. Hinata just performed a perfect jumping high back thrust straight to the face of Sephiroth.

That attack immediately shifts the flow of the fight, with Hinata being on the offensive. She closes the distance immediately and chases after Sephiroth who after recover from the kick is retreating and fending off her attack. He can't properly counter attack as his sword is too long for the close quarter combat and Hinata keep her offense fast and furious.

Noticing Hinata over extend one of her strike, Sephiroth immediately take the opportunity to grab her right wrist with his left hand and flung her away from him while at the same time jump away from her.

Hinata landed softly and immediately train her eye on her opponent who are looking at her with new found respect.

The stadium which had been silent the whole time since the battle start roars out in their approval. The whole skirmish only lasted less than two minutes but the skills display is enough to make the audience watch dumbfounded up till they disengage.

In the audience

"Holy shit! What did you guys did to Hinata?" Agil shout over the roaring approval of the audience.

Neither Kirito nor Naruto replied. Both of them are staring at the arena, looking serious which made the others around them taken aback. Usually they would be snarky in their response. Their lack of response set them on the edge and they return to observe the battle below.

Arena

Both finalists down at the arena are panting slightly. With such a fast and furious exchange, two minutes of non-stop fight will wind down anyone.

"I must say. I never expect you to get a solid hit. However, the first blood goes to me it seems" said Sephiroth his eye training to her small cut on her shoulder.

"Well, it's hardly first blood when the scratch you manage to inflict causes less damage than the kick isn't it?" Hinata replied back.

"Fair enough. Hope you are ready for Round 2." said Sephiroth, his gaze hardened.

ARGUS Facility – Cafeteria

"OH MY GOD! Onee-chan is a total badass" Hanabi shout out after watching her sister fights like that.

Hiashi can't even reprimand his youngest for her language. He is just too stun to see her polite, sweet, gentle Hinata holding her own against one of the strongest player in the game.

Arena

Sephiroth restart their battle by shooting 4 dark orbs out of his hand that quickly converge on Hinata. Due to the sudden use of rune by Sephiroth, Hinata letting instinct take over jump through the opening between the 4 dark orbs. However, that is a ploy by Sephiroth to lure Hinata to where he wants her to be. He intercept Hinata's route halfway and returns Hinata's earlier favour with a side kick to Hinata's stomach and launches her to the orbs' convergence point again.

"Ugh" grunted Hinata from the force of the kick and she flew towards her initial spot and was hit by the dark orbs.

Hinata felt like being hit by a football shot from a striker. It doesn't hurt too badly yet it is enough for her to grunt out in pain. However, Sephiroth doesn't let up. He immediately follow up his attack to end the battle there. Hinata seeing Sephiroth is rapidly approaching immediately roll away to try and gain some distance.

Sephiroth in the mid way of his run jumps high up into the air.

"[Hell's Gate]" said Sephiroth with his sword pointing downwards.

He rapidly descends from his position to stab Hinata from above. While Hinata manages to escape the blade, that technique creates a fissure that sends rocks up at random directions when he made contact to the ground. The rocks and shock wave blast Hinata away from Sephiroth.

In the audience

"Damn… Sephiroth is taking off the kiddies glove now. Hinata will be hard pressed to score another hit." said Kirito.

Naruto meanwhile is just watching the fight intently. He knew Sephiroth is just testing the waters with Hinata earlier. But if he is honest with himself, Hinata did fight very well to fend off Sephiroth's earlier attack. Not to mention, their so-called first round had an aesthetic appeal to it with fancy and acrobatic moves from both sides. While his earlier assault seems vicious, to the untrained eyes, to them, Sephiroth is just attacking… no placing his blade at where Hinata's weapon will be. To do that in the middle of a fight speaks volume of Sephiroth's skill with a sword and his judgment of his opponent's skill level. That opening gambit is as much a message to everyone that is trained as it is an entertainment to those who are not.

"He's taunting us" said Naruto after some time. "He is not just a gamer. He is like us, well-trained in combat. Do you recognize his style?"

"..." Kirito paused for a moment. "I can't be certain. But he is damn good in it. Way better than practitioner on competitive level and he is not only good in handling a sword. His stance speaks of CQC training. My guess would be either the force or the military."

"That's what I thought too. Not to mention, katana of that length doesn't exist in the real world. This means he only starts wielding it in the game. To be proficient to handle such a sword to the degree that he is shows his adaptability. That guy is without a doubt a monster among monsters" replied Naruto grimly.

Hearing the boys' comments, the rest of them sitting together became silent.

"Well, no matter if Hinata wins or not, she has already proven herself that she can stand among the monsters with her performance" said Klien.

"Hinata-chan hasn't shown her true powers yet. Sephiroth might be testing the water, but who is to say Hinata-chan is not doing the same thing as well?" Naruto smirk. He continued "So, what are you going to do now Hinata-chan?"

Arena

Hinata slowly stands on her feet after being thrown back from the impact of Sephiroth's [Hell's Gate]. Taking a quick look at her HP at the top corner of her vision, she noted that she had taken quite some damage.

Taking a deep breath, she refocuses on her opponent before she runs forward to engage her opponent once again. Just when she enters Sephiroth's range, she threw one of her daggers straight at his face. However, Sephiroth simply shift his head a little to let the dagger flew past him.

"What a stupid girl. She threw one of her advantage to get a momentary surprise. With just one dagger, I can easily break through her defense. I guess this is the limit of the famous Fairy. I guess I will end this battle here. No need to prolong this fight unnecessarily" thought Sephiroth.

As he is about to swipe his sword at Hinata, he felt a sharp pain across his right cheek. That momentary pause is all that Hinata needed to get within her range. It all happens in a blink of an eye. She caught her dagger back with her left land but her right hand has already sheathed her other dagger and tap on one of her pocket to bring out a rune. She then slams her right palm onto him and he is immediately encased in a cocoon of ice.

Competitor Box

"That's the [Sword Dance]. How did she learn it?" Genesis stood from his seat the moment he saw the dagger change its trajectory.

"That is no [Sword Dance], Genesis. That is [Returning Blade]. She doesn't control the trajectory of the thrown weapon. That technique made the thrown weapon reverse its initial trajectory. It's one of the dagger's class technique" replied PoH.

"Tch" Asuna cursed that there is another dagger user in the competitor box. Due to the boys' teaching, they had learn very early on that the less your opponent knows about you the better.

Arena

Immediately after her [Frost Diver] Sephiroth can only see the girl activate her follow up attack knowing he can't dodge the attack in his frozen status. From his frozen prison, he stare at his opponent's unarmed hand sparks lighting.

At the audience

"Is that the [Chidori]? Kirito, I thought that is your signature rune?" asked Klein.

"No. That is not [Chidori]. She might know the rune recipe for it, but that's not it. It's the lighting equivalent for [Frost Diver] called the [Stun Spark]. Like its ice counterpart, it is a close range rune where [Frost Diver] freezes you; the [Stun Spark] stuns you momentarily. While both [Chidori] and [Stun Spark] is a close range wind element rune, the difference between my [Chidori] and the [Stun Spark] is the effect and the duration. The [Stun Spark] last for one attack and stuns your enemy. Meanwhile, the [Chidori] causes wind element critical damage and last for 10 seconds. It also boosts your movement speed in that duration. Depending on how fast and how many punches you can throw in 10 seconds, one [Chidori] can kill several opponents at a time" Kirito explained the difference with both of the runes.

Everyone except Naruto that are sitting around him that heard it just drop their jaw wide.

"What? You would think [Chidori] being an A-Rank rune just deals a one off wind based critical damage? Kinda underwhelming for an A-Rank rune if that is the case isn't it? You will realize when it comes to A-rank runes, their effect is on a whole 'nother level compared to the other runes. Do you know Asuna's [Railgun] has insane range? If the Morroc Palace is not an immortal object, I believe that her [Railgun] can even pierce through the Morroc wall from where she cast the rune" Kirito continued never taking his eye off the battle.

Arena

"I must finish this now" Hinata thought to herself. She knows she is no match for Sephiroth in a head up battle. Even he knows it and that is the reason why she is still standing here. Had he gone all out from the start, the battle would be over in less than a minute.

She had practice sheathing and unsheathing her daggers so often that the movement have become second nature to her. The moment she cast her [Frost Diver] with her right hand, her left hand had already sheathed her second dagger and move to tap her other pocket to materialize the rune. When the [Frost Diver] have completely frozen Sephiroth, her hand is already sparking with lighting. Without wasting anytime, she palm thrust the ice cocoon and immediately the ice cocoon shatter and could hear Sephiroth's grunt of pain despite the sound of cackling electricity. She is not finished. She knows he is merely stunned for 3 seconds before the effect fades. Both of her dagger already in her hand at this point, she starts her next attack sequence. Holding her dagger such that the tip is pointed outwards, Hinata drop to her activating stance and yell out "[Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Strikes]"

"2 strikes" 2 thrust landed on Sephiroth.

"4 strikes" another 2 thrust hit Sephiroth.

"8 strikes" 4 thrust landed on Sephiroth.

"16 strike" 5 thrust from Hinata's dual dagger landed on Sephiroth. On the 6th strike, a metallic clang is heard.

Sephiroth has recover from the [Stun Spark] stun effect. The 7th and 8th strike are blocked by Sephiroth without any difficulty.

"32 strike" and Hinata's hand move so fast it is just only blurs to the audience.

However, what's even more impressive is Sephiroth is matching the speed of Hinata's attack. They all know Hinata's unnatural speed is aided by the system. Sephiroth however is not.

Sparks flew when both Hinata's daggers and Sephiroth's katana meet. The whole 16 set of jabs is met by Sephiroth's katana placed just at the right place to parry or block the attack from the girl.

When Hinata's last strike ended, she was unable to move to avoid Sephiroth's counter due to her lag from using her technique. Sephiroth didn't even bother with the game's techniques. He just let his swords flow. Hinata can't defend at all and she is slashed all over her body, arm and leg. When everyone thought he is finish with his assault with a particular strong slash that lifted Hinata a few feet above the ground.

"[Octaslash]." Sephiroth need not have to rush in. He was already within range of his attack as it is. Guided by the system, Sephiroth's katana glowed and perform 8 consecutive slash in a blink of an eye, the last slash sending Hinata straight to the wall of the arena.

Hinata is in a whole lot of pain. Opening her eyes, she struggle to stand up but her avatar body seems to be protesting any movement. Checking her HP bar, she is surprised she still has about 15% of her HP left. "I guess, Sephiroth-san is not aiming at the critical points else I think I would have lost all of my HP" Hinata thought to herself. Knowing she has been bested, she slowly brings herself up and props herself against the wall while panting furiously.

She is looking at Sephiroth who is watching her impassively.

"I... forfeit" said Hinata while bringing her menu up and forfeit her match.

"And the winner of the first match is SEPHIROTH" announce the emcee of the tournament.

The whole stadium roars their approval. It is indeed an incredible duel.

Sephiroth de-materialize his sword and walk towards Hinata.

"You fought well, Hinata-san. That is a great match" said Sephiroth while offering his hand to Hinata.

"Thank you for your kind words, Sephiroth-san" replied Hinata while accepting his help.

In the audience

While Sephiroth is helping Hinata to the competitor box, Naruto finally let out a sigh in relief. While Sephiroth's last attack seems overly violent, he understands that this is a game. In fact, what Sephiroth did is considered mild. He just fought normally and ending it with a technique. He could have pressed her when she is still down from the last attack but he just stood still waiting for her to get back up. All in all, there is nothing in Sephiroth's action that he won't do.

"Naruto. Did you notice?" asked Kirito while eyeing Sephiroth.

"Yeah. His sense is incredible. Not only can he track Hinata's movement in her last set of her Eight-Tiagram, he shift his sword just enough to deflect and block all the strikes at that speed. Right after he comes out of his stun too. There is no wasted movement at all. His swordplay is as efficient as it can be" answered Naruto.

Competitor Box

When Hinata and Sephiroth reach the competitor box, Asuna immediately rush to help her friend while giving a glare towards Sephiroth. He merely chuckle at her glare and moves to sit beside Genesis.

"Are you ok Hinata-chan?" asked Asuna worriedly.

"I'm all right. Just a bit sore that's all" replied Hinata.

Before Asuna can get another word, the emcee called for Heathcliff and Gaara for their duel.

"C'mon Hinata-chan. Let's take a seat while you recover" said Asuna.

Arena

After explaining the rules of engagement once more to the second set of the player, the emcee once again asks if they players are ready for their duel. "All right! Heathcliff, Gaara. Are you ready for your duel?"

Both of them just nodded.

As if the system picks up their nodding of their head as confirmation. "If that is the case… Heathcliff vs. Gaara. Let the fight begins" the emcee announces before he seemingly teleported away.

Neither Heathciff nor Gaara move an inch. Both of them are eyeing each other with a calm façade, betraying no emotion to one another. Without any warning, both of them simultaneously use their first skill.

"[Divine Protection]"

"[Desert Coffin]"

Heathcliff's shield glow white and the glow immediately cover his whole body. In the meantime, sand appears out from Gaara's gourd and immediate home in towards Heathcliff, engulfing him in a ball of sand.

"[Desert Funeral]." Gaara's extended palm closes sharply and the sand around Healtcliff implodes and crushes Heathcliff.

Audience

"Huh? Just like that? That was fast… it feels so anti-climatic after the first round…" muttered Klein looking at the dust from Gaara's sand attack.

Almost immediately, Heathcliff run out from the dust cloud at a very fast speed ramming his shield into Gaara causing Gaara to be launched back several feet.

"What the hell just happened?" asked Harry One.

"[Divine Protection]" answered Argo.

When all the Fuurinkazan look at her unable to comprehend her answers, she sighs and explains. "It is a shield supportive technique. It allows the user to receive no damage from non-weapon attacks like runes or in this case, Gaara's sand."

"Well, if there is something to take away from this battle, it is Heathcliff knows what he is doing. A perfect counter to Gaara's opening gambit, taking zero damage and launch a quick counter to draw first blood" Agil gives his opinion.

Arena

"[Desert Suspension]." The sand surrounding Gaara starts to levitate him bringing him several feet above the air. When Gaara's sand platform stops rising he shifts the platform around placing him directly in front of the spotlight lighting the arena.

Realization dawn upon Heathcliff and he immediately bring his shield in front of him. Not long after that he felt him being peppered by sand bullets. While his shield shielded most of his body and his [Divine Protection] prevents any damage from the attack, he still felt slight pain from the high speed sand bullet that hit his lower body. He just had to weather this barrage of sand hail.

Audience

"Gaara is going to lose if he keeps fighting with his sand. He is putting pressure on Heathcliff with his attacks, but so long Heathcliff have his [Divine Protection] buff, he won't be taking any damage from all his sand attack and all this is going to cost Gaara his stamina. He is smart in looking for an advantage by taking the higher ground and using the environment to his advantage but it still won't be doing him much good" said Kirito with disinterest.

"That's the limit of a solo player. The fact he didn't recognize [Divine Protection] put him at a serious disadvantage. This is the reason why it is so important to not divulge too much of your secrets. With just a short montage on what Gaara can do, Heathcliff already neutralize the bulk of his strategy with a single high level shield technique" added Naruto.

"Kinda broken isn't it? The [Divine Protection] I mean. He is basically impervious to all runes" asked Klein.

"Agil, you wanna take this? Seeing you are the weapon dealer" replied Naruto.

"Ummm… That technique is indeed powerful against not only runes but also technique like Gaara's sand attack. But it takes double damage from physical attack… you know from weapons or even your punches or kicks. Kinda like a double edge sword if you ask me. Another weakness you can explore is that it has a certain duration depending in your mastery but its cooldown period is very long. So you can't really spam this technique to give you total immunity to non-physical attack. But you have to be stupid if you don't master this technique if you are a tanker. Despite the drawbacks, it is one of the best defensive techniques out there" said Agil.

"It indeed is one of the best defensive techniques out there. But just for your information, it is not totally rune-proof. Understand this. You don't receive damage from runes doesn't mean rune is not effective against it. Only damage based rune will be ineffective. Runes like [Frost Diver] can still freeze him even though you don't damage the user. So, it just negates the damage portion of the rune but not the status effect of it. That is why Gaara's [Desert Coffin] manage to immobilize him. It is Gaara's [Desert Funeral] that is ineffective" Kirito gave them a better understanding of the technique.

"How did you know of all this?" asked Argo.

He is distracted from answering by Gaara next attack.

"Holy fuck… That bugger summons a fucking sand tsunami" said Issin.

Sure enough, Gaara standing on top on his floating sand platform raises both of his arms and a tidal wave of sands rises from the ground and began crashing onto Heathcliff, covering the whole arena with several feet of sand.

"Damn… It's a terraform technique. Honest to god… I have no clue how I'm gonna counter that. Heathcliff got buried underneath all those sands man, he might not receive any damage, but being buried by all these sands must not be comfortable" said Naruto.

Arena

Gaara is panting heavily and is slowly descending towards the arena. When he touches the surface of the sand his platform immediately dissolve and he drop on all fours panting heavily. The last attack, [Quicksand Waterfall] is one of his strongest attacks in his arsenal and it took a big chunk of his stamina. With his constant sand attacks, his usage of [Desert Suspension] and finally the [Quicksand Waterfall]. He has already use up almost all of his stamina. This is one of the drawbacks of his [Shukaku Gourd]. The attacks are quite stamina intensive. While mastering the technique will reduce the stamina consumption, he doesn't have the time to master any of the attacks. His strategy is to overwhelm his opponent with his powerful techniques so that even if his opponent manages to survive the assault, his opponent will be intimidated by the sheer power of his attack and forfeit the match.

Suddenly there is an explosion at the edge of the arena.

The silhouette of Heathcliff is seen within the dust caused from the explosion. His [Quicksand Waterfall] manages to knock him back all the way from the center of the arena to the edge of the arena. "Damn… Just how high is his defense stat? I practically dump the whole desert on him" thought Gaara.

"Gaara-kun. Your attacks are definitely impressive. But my defense is stronger than your offense. Your strategy failed and I can see you are on your last legs. Do you wish to forfeit?" said Heathcliff.

Gathering his strength and slowly stand up, Gaara materialize his spear like how Sephiroth materialize his sword. Taking a deep breath, he replied "Not so easy Commander. If you want to win, you have to earn it. I admit. I may have use a wrong strategy against you. But I haven't lost yet. I can still fight and my HP is still quite full."

"[Sacrifice]" said Heathcliff and his sword glowed.

Heathcliff ran towards Gaara at a reduced speed due to the sands. When he reaches Gaara, they traded blows. However, due to Gaara exhausted state, he is sluggish in his defense and Heathcliff manage to score some hit on Gaara. After a third hit, Gaara lashes him left arm and immediately a hand formed from the sand punches Heathcliff and send him back a few feet.

It was one of [Shukaku's Gourd] passive skills. After using [Quicksand Waterfall], he can throw punches and the sand will imitate his actions at some cost of his stamina. Taking a moment of reprieve, he checks his status and to his shock, his HP is dangerously low. "I've just only got hit three times, and my HP is already in the critical? My defense is not that low to be so easily reduced to this state from just 3 attacks" thought Gaara.

"Wh-What does your [Sacrifice] do?" asked Gaara out loud.

Heathcliff smirk. "It's not much of a secret anyway. I'll indulge you. [Sacrifice] is a supportive technique which increases the damage at the cost of my HP. I will not go into details on the calculation mechanics of this technique but know that it is enough to reduce your HP from full to zero in less than 5 hits. As you can see my HP is still more than 70%. More than enough for a couple more of the recoil damage from [Sacrifice]. Do you still wish to proceed? I can't assure that you will survive if your HP drops to zero."

"Tch…" is Gaara's only response before he opens his menu and confirms his forfeit of the second match. He knows what a defeat looks like when he sees one and he isn't that prideful to lose his life just for a game's tournament.

Audience

The audience cheer after the conclusion of the second match. Unlike the first match, the second match is packed with powerful attacks from Gaara which they have never seen before. The players that are more focused on battle take the opportunity to learn what the strategies that they can learn from this battle.

"Impressive display of game techniques but nothing can be said of their real skills with a weapon. Heathcliff will have his work cut out for him in the semi with Sephiroth but, I won't be surprised if he has a way to handle Sephiroth too" Naruto remarked.

"You do realize he shows nothing right? In the whole battle, he just uses 2 supportive techniques. One defensive and one offensive. He still has plenty of cards in his hand. His match with Sephiroth is going to be exciting. If anything, Sephiroth will have to fight smart. I can already foresee Heathcliff will be using the [Reflect Shield] as part of his strategy against Sephiroth" said Kirito.

"It is totally one-sided isn't it?" said Agil.

"You tell me… It's unfortunate Gaara faces a defensive player like Heathcliff. I think if he fought the girls, his array of attacks are enough to win against them. While the girls have access to some runes that can counter some of Gaara's attack, I can't think of anything that they have that can counter that sand tsunami. On the other hand, I believe the girls can win against Heathcliff. Kinda like janken come to think of it. Heathcliff beats Gaara, Gaara beats the girls, and the girls beat Heathcliff" said Naruto.

"Enough about it. The next match gonna be interesting. This should be the most entertaining match for the quarter-finals. Both Genesis and PoH are among the more skillful fighters in the tournament. Kinda exciting isn't it Naruto? Just like old times back in the Kendo tourney when we watch others fight" Kirito muses.

Arena

Genesis wearing his usual red coat and PoH with his hood covering his head have just arrive at the center of the arena when the emcee teleport in between them.

"Ladies and gentlemen… Time sure flies fast when we are enjoying ourselves. It's the third match, Genesis versus PoH... Are you ready?" said the emcee.

Genesis said nothing and materializes his [Rapier] and stand in a fencing position.

"It's showtime" muttered PoH pulling his [Cleaver] from the back of his waist.

"Let's the battle begins" said the emcee to start the fight.

CLANG

CLANG

CLANG

Both Genesis and PoH clear the distance between them in a blink of an eye and before anyone can notice, the sound of metal striking metal rang clearly in less than a second. Genesis's [Rapier] is currently grinding against PoH's [Cleaver] both trying to overpower the other.

PoH momentarily take a step back, an opportunity Genesis took to capitalize by swinging his Rapier outward to parry PoH and leaving him open for attack. Genesis step in to deal first blood but PoH spin on his heel to narrowly miss the thrust from Genesis and counter with his downward slash to Genesis back only for Genesis to slips his Rapier to his back to block the slash.

However with PoH in a more strategic position, PoH immediately jump up and knee Genesis to the side of his face with his left knee before following up with a back thrust with his right foot straight to Genesis's ribs sending him away.

The moment PoH's feet touches the ground, he immediately follow up and rushes in after Genesis. In an incredible feat of acrobatics, Genesis manage to use the momentum to flip himself upright with a single back handspring just in time to meet PoH [Cleaver] which is on the way to his neck. This time Genesis return the favour by grabbing PoH's wrist with his left hand, yank it out of the way and launch a roundhouse kick to PoH's left side of his face. Without giving PoH much chance to retaliate, Genesis still holding on to PoH's wrist jumps up and in a fluid movement lock PoH's head with his legs and bring both of them down to the ground. Genesis doesn't even hesitate to bring his Rapier down to cut PoH's locked head.

Before the blade even touch PoH's head, PoH's free hand slap Genesis thigh and an explosion throw Genesis away from him and kick up some dust.

Genesis rolls a few times from the explosion before he manages to bring himself in a crouching position, the force from the explosion dragging him a few feet backwards. He stares intently at the dust, ready to move if there is any follow up attack from PoH.

Like the first match, the whole stadium is silent throughout the whole exchange and they immediately roar in approval when both of the combatants pause from the whole exchange.

Audience

"Damn… This is something else. Now I'm kinda glad I didn't get selected for this. Their skills are on a totally different level than us. I'm not talking bout game skills. I'm talking about just their natural combat skills" said Klein in awe.

"That's why I said this match will be the most entertaining one. I have a feeling it is only going to get better" said Kirito without taking his eyes away from the battle.

Arena

The dust soon settle down to reveal PoH is in the process of standing up. Petting a few spot on his body as if to remove some dirt he said "That's some good moves. Unfortunately kicks and punches are not very damaging else a huge chunk of my HP will be gone. I dare say my [Firaga] rune deal a lot more damage than all of our earlier blows combined."

Genesis smirks. "I guess. But using that rune at such a close range, you didn't escape unharmed too"

"Well, I wasn't about to give you my head. Pardon me but that move is more of a desperate move to get away from you rather than to deal damage. Prepare for round 2" replied PoH before he crushes a rune on his left hand and swipe his left palm over his weapon which glows green.

"Poison?" thought Genesis before he runs his index and middle finger along his blade which glows red. "[Sword Dance]" said Genesis before he let go of his [Rapier] which fly towards PoH in a straight line.

Instinct immediately takes over and PoH tried to parry the flying sword. However his swipe misses as the sword dive down just when he is about to hit it and it immediately shoot upwards. Had PoH unable to shift his head in time, the sword would have thrust through his nose. As he is able to do so, the sword just cut his right cheek. But he doesn't let the cut bother him. He runs towards the unarmed Genesis and immediately begins his attack.

Unable to guide his [Rapier] back to him in time via his [Sword Dance] technique, he materializes his [Rapier] in an instant like how the Delta Force usually materializes their weapons.

Expecting such a move, PoH is already in motion when Genesis materialize his sword and in one swift move, he perform a jumping roundhouse kick at Genesis's dominant right arm where the sword materialize, complete a rotation in the air and slashing across Genesis body. The moment Genesis landed, he never let up in his assault and prepares to run his [Cleaver] through Genesis.

PoH's [Cleaver] almost contact Genesis stomach when Genesis once again grab PoH's right wrist with his left hand. Instead of stopping the attack, Genesis turn around his back now facing PoH and in a blink of an eye, flip PoH in a judo throw.

As PoH impacted the ground, he didn't even have a moment to breathe when he notices Genesis right hand is glowing and descending unto him. Just before Genesis hit him, he palm away Genesis fist at the last second causing Genesis fist to hit the ground beside his head. However, PoH didn't escape unharmed as even if Genesis fist miss him, the impact of his punch blast him away from Genesis. The blast causes him to be thrown like a rag doll before he stops. He steadily stands up while taking a quick look at his HP. His HP left about 40%. It seems Genesis punch is enhanced by rune. Else his punch won't be that devastating.

Audience

When the dust cleared, both Genesis and PoH are eyeing each other, panting hard. Their fast pace exchange and their martial arts prowess keep ensure this is by far the most entertaining match. However to Kirito and Naruto's keen eyes, they notice that Genesis is panting harder than PoH. Taking his note of his expression, they immediately came to the conclusion that Genesis is poisoned. They have been poisoned during the beta phase to recognize the symptom at first glance.

"If Genesis didn't have [Antidote] to cure him from his [Poison] status, the fight will go to PoH. Genesis will be feeling weak at the moment, kinda like having a fever… and with PoH as his opponent, there is no way Genesis can win now. Genesis last attack with his punch would have finished the match if PoH didn't recover so fast to palm away his punch" said Naruto.

Before Genesis can open his menu, PoH immediately rushes before Genesis can use [Antidote] to cure his poison. It is obvious that Genesis didn't set [Antidote] in one of his [Pocket] and PoH is not about to let Genesis cure the poison status even if PoH seems to be quite tired at this point judging from his attacks.

"I've gotta say. Genesis is doing very well considering he is being poisoned. He manages to evade and block all of PoH's attack at that state" Kirito commented.

Both of the fighters are all over the arena pulling off amazing moves. None of them uses any techniques or runes as that will give the other an opportunity to deal extra damage. As of now, both of their HP should be quite low with all the abuse they had taken all this while. They can't afford to let the other to score a hit. All those while, the audience only keep cheering them.

"Wow… Genesis is doing really well being poisoned an all…" and suddenly it hit him. "… That brilliant bastard. He is faking being poison" said Naruto.

Kirito immediately got his point and seeing the others are seeing them in a puzzled expression. "Remember when Genesis hit the ground and causes some dust to kick up? How long do you think the dust takes to settle down?"

"About a few seconds maybe?" said Kunimittz.

"And it didn't occur to you that he might use that time to cure himself from [Poison]? Opening the menu, opening the inventory tab, selecting the [Antidote] and ingesting the [Antidote]. It definitely takes some time to do so… but it definitely is possible to do so during the time when Genesis is hiding in the dust. He just acts like he is being poisoned to lure PoH into false security" explained Naruto.

Arena

True enough, after a few minutes of trading blows, PoH made the first mistake by overextending his slash when Genesis take the opportunity to counter PoH several times before PoH manage to jump away from Genesis and perform several back handspring moves to create some distance between them. However, Genesis is relentless and runs after PoH to finish the match.

Suddenly a cloud of dust explode underneath Genesis, and PoH who just landed on both feet from his acrobatic handspring immediately run forward at full speed, pushing his body forward, keeping his torso low and disappear into the dust and come out from the other end moments later, his right hand stretch backwards him holding his [Cleaver] firmly.

PoH then stands upright and lowers his right hand and turn around to look at the dust when a scream of pain can be heard coming from within the dust. Waiting for the dust to clear, the audiences are silent to watch what is going on.

Due to the explosion, the dust takes some time to clear, however PoH just stand at his spot looking impassively at the dispersing dust all this while. When the dust finally cleared, Genesis is seen on the ground unable to move. What shock the rest is both of his legs have been cut off below the knee.

The whole stadium is silent, hence they can hear what PoH said clearly even though he is panting very hard. "Surrender this fight, Genesis. You are unable to continue. Not like that. I will give you 5 seconds before I will finish this fight on my terms and I will guarantee you won't like my terms."

Genesis grits his teeth in pain while trying to push his body up to sit but without his leg, his balance is off and he fall down again.

"Damn it…" cursed Genesis slamming his fist onto the ground in frustration.

"You have 3 seconds left" reminded PoH.

Glaring at PoH, Genesis knew he was defeated. He reluctantly opens his menu and forfeits his match to end the duel.

Audience

Everyone in the stadium give both of them a standing ovation and clap their hands. Even Kirito and Naruto are standing up clapping along. The match is truly amazing.

"What the hell just happened?" ask Klein out loud over the thunderous cheers from the audience.

"PoH won. That's what…" replied Argo.

"I know that… but what exactly happened?" asked Klein again.

"I think it is a trap. I didn't notice PoH using any runes or technique. It just seems to happen and trigger directly underneath Genesis" Naruto answered.

"That's what I thought too… and PoH cuts off both of Genesis leg in a single attack" Kirito commented.

"How do you know it's just one attack?" asked Agil. He after all is an axe user and he knows the requirement to induce the crippling status. To do so in a single attack will require a very high strength parameter and insane amount of skill and accuracy. To do so in an environment with minimal vision, is almost impossible.

"Because, judging from his speed and the amount of time for him to cover the distance between his entry and exit of the smokescreen, he didn't stop for a moment in his attack. The attack will have to occur concurrently while he is in motion. His weapon of choice seems to be designed for such an attack" said Kirito.

Everyone sitting nearby can already imagine PoH running directly at Genesis with his [Cleaver] slicing through both of Genesis knees in one clean motion without hesitation and suddenly the posture of PoH exiting the smoke makes more sense.

"So either of you wanna tell us when PoH set the trap?" asked Argo.

"No offense, Argo. But we are as clueless as you all. So, if this is indeed a trap, he has to set it some time when Genesis can't see him. Throughout the whole fight, the only time PoH is out of Genesis sight is when Genesis headlock PoH and PoH blast him away with his rune" replied Kirito.

"Kirito is probably right. The place where the explosion occur matches Kirito's deduction" Naruto supporting Kirito's conjecture.

"PoH is even more dangerous than we initially thought… playing around with traps and status effect" said Kirito softly.

The others continue to discuss the battle while waiting for the next match.

Competitor Box

"I hope you don't start forfeiting so soon into the battle eh… I wanna get a good warm up first… Tenshi-chan… Hehehe" Kisame chuckled before he walks out towards the center of arena.

"Asuna-chan… Be careful. You can do this" Hinata encourage her friend.

"Thanks Hinata-chan" replied Asuna before she stand up take a deep breath and walk out towards the arena as well.

Arena

"Now for our final fight to determine our best 4, Kisame versus Asuna… Both of you ready?" asked the emcee.

Kisame draw his [Claymore] from his back and hold the heavy sword with a single hand. Asuna draw her rapier, the [Seraphic Touch] from her waist and hold it in a fencing position.

"Don't make this too easy for me, Tenshi-chan" said Kisame to rile her up.

Asuna glare at Kisame which causes him to chuckle.

"Let the fourth battle begins" the emcee calls to signify the start of the duel.

For a short moment, neither of them moves until Kisame start his movement by taking a step forward, an action Asuna mirror. After their second step, their brisk pace suddenly changes into full out dash. Kisame is already in his motion to swing his [Claymore] horizontally. Just as the claymore will behead Asuna, she stops abruptly allowing the claymore to swing in front of her harmlessly. Kisame having put a tremendous amount of power into his swing in hoping even if Asuna block his attack, he will still generate enough power to throw her away causes him to overextend his swing and open him wide for attack. Asuna didn't waste that opportunity. Just as sudden as her abrupt stop, so is her sudden acceleration to rush in towards Kisame and launch a salvo of quick thrust at Kisame.

Credit should be given to Kisame too as he manage to jump away but not before receiving a few cut from Asuna's barrage.

"Fuck…" Kisame cursed. He didn't escape unharmed, closing his right eye with his left hand. "That little bitch is aiming for my eyes. Had I not move my head a fraction to the right, my left eye would be gone."

Asuna is aiming for Kisame's eyes from the very start. Her first attack hit the mark, but Kisame manages to react instantly by tilting his head to right on her second attack, so instead of losing his left eye as well, he only manage to get cut near his left eye. Asuna is relentless though. Even when she missed, she continue to launch several thrust to blind him but Kisame is skillful enough to protect his remaining eye from being harmed before he use a [Water Bullet] rune to blast the girl away from him.

Asuna however already saw his hand was in the motion of using a rune, easily evaded the [Water Bullet]. But that is all Kisame needed to put some distance himself from Asuna.

Audience

"Asuna really take your advice to heart. That is an amazing display of instant deceleration and instant acceleration. There is not a hint of deceleration until it is too late for Kisame. She is not pulling any punches huh? Going for blinding strikes the moment she get the chance" Naruto remarked.

"She already is at disadvantage in terms of power and range. Her top speed won't be that much different from Kisame. It is her agility, that which is her greatest strength. Her ability to hit top speed from rest or from top speed to rest almost instantaneously eclipses even mine. But even that won't be enough to take on the likes of Kisame. So, I advice her to take his sight out as soon as possible" Kirito replied.

"But still… That kinda instant deceleration and acceleration must be putting a lot of strain on her" said Argo.

"If this is the real world, then you are right. But this is not the real world isn't it? But I agree the mental fortitude to perform this is the same as the mental fortitude for me to break my speed limit" Kirito explained while never taking his gaze from the battle.

Arena

"So little angel knows how to fight… Oh well, I guess I won't feel too bad when I cut you up. Don't make this too easy for me all right?" said Kisame while removing his left hand from his injured right eye.

All of a sudden, Asuna tenses. The pressure exerted by Kisame feels like the one time they fought in Alberta Raid when Kirito and Naruto got serious. At that time, those presences were not directed at her. But today, she experience what it felt like to have that predatory hunger directed fully on her. It wasn't a comforting feeling. Before she even had time to process what she is feeling, Kisame is already swinging his [Claymore] down. It is a testament to her agility that she manages to bring her rapier fast enough to block the attack despite her sudden lost of focus from Kisame presence. Despite that, Asuna is seen flying away from her spot after she block Kisame's attack.

"Damn… His speed is like Kirito-kun without his [Shadow Walk] and have power like Naruto-kun in his [3 Tailed-mode]" thought Asuna while she is struggling to stand up. She didn't get the chance to take a breath when she notices Kisame is already onto her. This time she is unable to escape as Kisame slash across her arm and body in a single swoop.

"Tch… My depth perception is screwed with just one eye. I am aiming to cut off her arm" said Kisame to himself.

Kisame once again rush in to keep the fight close. As he raise his sword, Asuna immediately try to get out of the range but it all prove to be a feint by Kisame as he immediately turn around and give her a back thrust which caught her squarely in her stomach. Kisame then immediately follow up with a torrent of slashes. Asuna is defending valiantly from the onslaught but Kisame proof to be the better swordsman as even with his injured eye, he manage to breakthrough Asuna's defense through some feinting.

Out of a sudden, a transparent bell chimes on top of Asuna which surprises Kisame momentarily. That is all the time needed for Asuna to counter and Kisame starts being on the defensive. Asuna's [White Blessing] passive ability, [Auto Blessing] activates like Hinata's fight against Sephiroth. Since Asuna is on the offense, Kisame is having a hard time keeping up with Asuna's attacks. Her acceleration of her hand from rest to top speed with her draw is truly remarkable. All Kisame can see is just some blur appendage that is connected to Asuna's torso. As it is, he is already doing his best to block the attack that is aiming for his critical spot, so it can't be help that there is a few attack that pierce through his avatar's skin. Heck, he can't even manage to grab hold on Asuna with his free hand to stop the onslaught of attack as she is just that fast.

In a desperate attempt, Kisame steps forward causing Asuna's [Seraphic Touch] to run through his stomach. But Kisame is not done. With that move, he is already close enough for him to knee Asuna in her stomach with his right knee which lifted her from the ground. In one single motion, he hops up and performs a jumping roundhouse kick with his left leg on Asuna body launching her away towards his right.

Taking a moment to take his breath, he take a look at his HP only to realize the battle have already took more than half of his HP. What perplex him is that his [Stamina] is lower than he thought. As it is, his stamina bar is already half depleted when he didn't even use any techniques in the battle. "Is the girl's weapon capable of sapping stamina?" he questions himself.

"Little girl! Your weapon… It has the ability to sap stamina?" Kisame asked.

Asuna pushes herself up slowly from the ground. She really took some serious beating against Kisame. Her HP is already half gone although her stamina bar is still quite full. She smirks before replying. "Notice that didn't you?" She might have a chance against this monster of a player after all.

"Tell you what… it might be a bit late. But I acknowledge your strength. You truly deserve a spot among the top 8. With this acknowledgement, I won't really feel bad when I kill you. You made a mistake, Asuna. You shouldn't fight as hard as you do. I would have spared you if you didn't show such strength. Now I just want to fight to my fullest abilities against you. Don't disappoint me now, Tenshi no Asuna" said Kisame no longer calling Asuna a little girl but rather using her name to show his respect.

With that, they began their battle anew. This time Asuna use liberal amount of rune to maintain distance between them while Kisame keeps trying to force a melee engagement.

During the skirmish, Kisame touch one of his [Pockets] and materialize a bottle. Thinking that Kisame is low on HP, Asuna thought Kisame materialize a potion to restore his HP. Hence she immediately accelerates towards Kisame to bring the fight to an end. As she was keeping a distance between them earlier, she is unable to cover the distance fast enough and Kisame drank his potion in a single gulp.

The moment Asuna is in her range, she immediately perform a very fast attack at Kisame's critical point. However, Kisame suddenly move much faster than his earlier speed, and in an instant he twisted himself away from Asuna's attack. From that moment, the pace of the battle is dictated by Kisame. It seems the potion he drank boosts his attack speed and in that moment, he seems like a berserker. Even the [Stun Spark] rune didn't manage to stun him long enough for Asuna to do any significant damage while he just muscle through the [Frost Diver].

Competition Box

"That's impossible. There is no way anyone can muscle their way out of the stunning and freezing effect from the runes" said Genesis.

"It's not impossible. Just highly improbable. If one have a high enough SPR and VIT stat and a strong enough will power, it should be probable to minimize the effect of those runes. Not to mention the potion he drank might help in that regards too" Heathcliff answered.

Arena

Knowing she is on her last legs, Asuna tried to summon. However, that proof to be a mistake as she required both hand to do the hand seals to begin the summoning. That is all the time Kisame needed to close in and in one fluid movement, Kisame successfully separate Asuna's left arm from her shoulder.

But Asuna is not deterred with it. She closes in and stabs her [Seraphic Touch] to Kisame's heart. However, Kisame left hand had managed to deflect the strike last minute. Instead of stabbing through his heart which will damage him enough for him to lose his remaining HP and the match, it just stab him through the center of his chest which while deals a significant damage, is not a critical damage and not nearly enough to end the match in her favour.

With such a close proximity, Kisame immediately choke Asuna with his left hand and lift her up. Asuna immediately remove her remaining hand from her [Seraphic Touch] and tried to call out the menu to forfeit. But Kisame doesn't allow that as his next attack remove her right forearm from her elbow.

Audience

"Fuck..." cursed Naruto while he stand up from his seat.

But no one is listening. This is because Kirito has already launches himself from his seat and is rushing towards the arena.

"Kirito!" shouted everyone sitting near Kirito when he jumped from his seat. He zooms past the audiences in front of him, never breaking from his sprint. Just as he reaches the edge of the arena, everyone behind him heard a loud crack not unlike a thunder. Kirito just ran into an invisible barrier that prevents any players from interfering the on-going battle. Dazed from the impact, Kirito quickly recover and keep on banging his fist against the invisible barrier.

Naruto being the next to reach him, tried to get hold of his brother in everything but blood. "Kirito… It's impossible to go beyond the barrier. You know this". Even though he himself wanted nothing but to go into the arena to give Kisame a beating, he knows Kirito needed him to be the rational one this time.

But Kirito didn't listen. He shrugs off Naruto's hand and keeps on banging his fist at the barrier hoping it will shatter while never shifting his sight from the scene where Kisame is having a death grip on Asuna's neck.

"Don't do this… don't do this… don't do this" Kirito keep repeating the same thing all the while he keeps hammering his fist on the barrier.

Arena

"You have fought very valiantly, Tenshi no Asuna. And for that I will reward you an ending befitting a warrior. Any last words?" said Kisame panting hard, Asuna's [Seraphic Touch] still stuck in between his chest. Like Asuna, his HP is already in the critical red region and his stamina is spent.

Asuna with tears in her eyes and could only turn her head and look straight into Kirito's eyes and mouthed the words "I love you, Kirito-kun" with a smile on her face before Kisame drives his [Claymore] into Asuna depleting her HP completely where she then shattered into millions of polygon fragments.

A/N: How is the fight scenes in this chapter? Sephiroth vs Hinata fight is pretty much one-sided. But let's face it... It's Sephiroth. In case you didn't notice, I gave Hinata the Eight Tiagram 32 Palms instead of the 64 Palm. This is because she haven't master the 32 Palms and the 64 Palms is not available to her at the moment. And yeah... I'm still not revealing the summons yet. I just don't think summoning is appropriate in a tournament that decide the best player in the game. And yes, the player that is Sephiroth in my fic have military training.

The Heathcliff and Gaara match is a bit boring but it is a fight where I want to show the weakness of a solo player. With this being an open end world, there will be plenty of items, and techniques that a solo player won't recognize unless he have a wide variety of friends.

Up next is Genesis vs. PoH. Now, this match is a nail biter. Many will think Genesis will win. Well, in this match I want to introduce a new skills which is Trapping. This is a prelude to one of the arc where Trapping will be use very often in the near future. This is by far my favourite fight. I'm a sucker for fast pace battle and this is by far the most high pace fight with both players on equal ground. Man... How I wish I can do animation. I so want to animate the scene from this fight.

Finally Kisame vs Asuna. :|

Fire away. Flame away. I have already expect some flamming for killing off Asuna. I have struggle with this decision, but in the end this is for the best as I need her death to trigger something in Kirito for my story to unfold... And it has been a long time since I left a chapter hanging. The result of the fight aside, I believe I made the fight very interesting at least. I mean c'mon. Asuna almost win against Kisame! That had to count for something. Oh and by the way, how did you like how I interpret Asuna's skill to instantaneously move from rest to top speed? The way I see it, that is my only interpretation of the canon Asuna. Rather than being fast, she has really high acceleration.

Hope there is enough material in this chapter for you to write some good reviews. :)

Response to some reviews (FAQ):

Jinchuriki. Well, if I never planned on adding 'Jinchuriki'. I added Gaara is cause I like him. He might not even be mentioned after this.

OP Main Characters. Well. Now did you see how strong are the others? Are they still as OP you think they are? I haven't even bring in the Akatsuki yet. The game will progress to the point where the top players are equally strong. The main characters are only OP during the early of the game due to their beta experience.

Finally thank you to everyone who reviewed. Even a job well done motivates me to finish my chapter as soon as possible. Hope to hear more from you all in your reviews.

Read and review,

Zephryc.